Cessna, Learjet seek up to $53 million in industrial revenue bonds

Two airplane manufacturers and one aviation supplier will seek a mix of industrial revenue bonds and tax breaks at Tuesday’s Wichita City Council meeting.

Textron Aviation’s Cessna Aircraft is seeking the largest amount of incentives among it, Bombardier Learjet and Perfekta Inc., according to city documents.

City documents said Cessna seeks IRBs up to $50 million to finance capital investments the company made this year in its Wichita facilities, including more than $33 million in tooling and equipment and nearly $15 million in improvements to its facilities and property. Cessna also seeks a five-year abatement on the real property in which it made improvements.

The documents also said Cessna plans to add 50 employees by 2018. It currently has a Wichita workforce of 5,436 employees, the documents said.

It’s not clear whether some of those investments were for the creation of a production line for the new Citation Longitude business jet that Cessna announced on Nov. 16 at the National Business Aviation Association Convention. The super-midsize jet will be manufactured on a new line at Plant IV at the former Beechcraft facility, now called the Textron Aviation East Campus, near Central and Greenwich.

“They’re doing a number of improvements,” said Tim Goodpasture, economic development analyst for the city.

The council also will consider a $3.5 million IRB request from Bombardier Learjet for its capital investment in the second half of 2015.

Learjet seeks to use the proceeds of the bonds for airplane positioning and tracking equipment, video recorders and rack displays, city documents said. Because the capital investment is only for equipment, it is not eligible for a property tax exemption, the documents said.

Finally, the council will consider Perfekta’s request for a tax exemption on a 60,000-square-foot addition to its plant at 480 E. 21st St.

The manufacturer of precision machined parts and assemblies for the aviation industry plans to invest $4.72 million in the expansion as well as $2.4 million in machinery and equipment, city documents said. The 148-employee company plans to add 16 employees over five years – at an average annual salary of $49,780 – as part of the expansion.

“Perfekta is close to securing new contracts but must be able to demonstrate it has the capacity to handle additional work,” the documents said of the reason for the expansion.

Perfekta officials could not be reached Monday.

The company is seeking a 10-year abatement on the property expansion, which would be subject to review after the first five years, the documents said.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Cessna, Learjet seek up to $53 million in industrial revenue bonds."